The Last Throes

CHENEY: “ I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time. But I think the level of activity that we see today, from a military standpoint, I think will clearly decline. I think they’re in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.”

The latest U.S. combat deaths in Iraq – including 10 American troops killed on Memorial Day – made May one of the deadliest months of the war, a fact highlighted on the front pages of most of the major U.S. newspapers.

The Washington Post, citing figures from icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks Iraq casualties, said 116 American soldiers had been killed so far in May, making it the “deadliest month for U.S. troops in 2 1/2 years.

The Wall Street Journal said May was “the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces,” while The New York Times said it was the “deadliest month for American troops since November 2004.”

The Los Angeles Times called May “the deadliest month for American forces this year, and the bloodiest since the battles for Fallouja in April and November 2004.”

And USA Today notes that 219 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since April, the “highest level for any two-month period of the war.”

But, to be fair, there is good news.

Meanwhile, despite the rising U.S. death toll, Iraq’s prime minister says the recent U.S. troop buildup has been effective. In his first television interview since the troop surge began in February, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told CBS News’ Lara Logan that the additional forces have stopped an even greater catastrophe.

“If the Baghdad security plan had not been implemented, we would have a true civil war in Iraq,” al-Maliki said.

The problem is that the surge should have been done at least two years ago, and I think it’s probably too little too late. Unless we want to keep National Guard troops out on five year deployments.